Funders and Partners

MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing combines an innovative academic agenda with collaborative research at the frontier of media change. CMS/W is committed to shaping new media uses and practices for a range of purposes – from entertainment, education, and creative expression to civic engagement and community empowerment.

Donors, sponsors, and research partners from around the world make it possible for us to pursue this far-reaching mission.

Individual Donors

Individual supporters are essential to the CMS/W mission, enabling us to continue attracting the best students worldwide and maintain a dynamic set of research activities, all shaping the future of media.

What your support can accomplish:

Gifts to our Media Futures Fund help enable CMS/W to continue pursuing cutting-edge research efforts and associated educational components.Supporting mission-driven driven research projects inspired by the vision of CMS/W students and scholars makes it possible for CMS/W to continue shaping the future of media.

Gifts of $10,000 – $100,000 helps CMS/W leverage support from private foundations and government grant programs in order to support the full costs of sponsored projects.In order to continue developing transformative tools and practices for education, civic engagement, and documentary storytelling, CMS/W depends on the generosity of individual donors to leverage and supplement support from institutional sources.

Gifts of $50,000 will fund a research assistantship for a CMS/W graduate student, including tuition support and living expenses for the academic year. A gift of $70,000 provides an independent fellowship for a CMS/W graduate student for one year, allowing the student to pursue his or her own research agenda while at MIT. By fully supporting our graduate students through research assistantships and fellowships, CMS/W can continue attracting the best students – a fundamental element of our impact on future media practices and possibilities.

At their discretion, donors who support CMS/W may receive full recognition in the form of named research assistantships and fellowships plus acknowledgement in all publications and outreach materials associated with supported projects.

For up-to-date information on funding needs and opportunities, contact us.

Foundation, Corporate, and Public Support

Major support from private foundations, industry sponsors, and the public sector has been a cornerstone of CMS/W’s success over its history.

Foundations

Arthur Vining Davis Foundation

Carnegie Corporation

Fledgling Fund

Ford Foundation

Gaiman Foundation

William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Florence Gould Foundation

Max Kade Foundation

Foundazione Bruno Kessler

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Open Society Foundations

Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation

Corporations

A2G Publicis Modem

Adobe Systems

Alcatel-Lucent

Avea Labs

Cisco Systems

Emergence BioEnergy

Johnson & Johnson

Marriott Corporation

Microsoft Studios

Mobivia Group

Motorola

Nickelodeon

Nokia

Telecom Italia

Telefonica

Public Agencies

Agence Nationale de la Recherche

Città di Venezia

Generalitat de Catalunya

Italian Consulate

Italian Trade Commission

Maryland Public Television

Massport

National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Humanities

National Research Foundation of Singapore

National Science Foundation

Provincia di Brescia

Provincia di Firenze

Radiotelevisione Italiana

Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens

Trentino Sviluppo

UNICEF

CMS has also received generous support from MIT through the Institute’s Alumni Class Funds, d’Arbeloff Fund, Teaching & Learning Fund, MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI), and the MIT Energy Initiative.

Research Partners

CMS/W regularly partners with other universities, professional organizations, and independent research and development groups. Current and past collaborators include:

Austrian Institute of Technology, Annatorius Group

CNR-IVALSA

Fundação Vanzolini

Harvard College Writing Program and Academic Technology Group

Hypothes.is

International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA)-DocLab

Learning Games Network

Massachusetts General Hospital, Biomedical Informatics Core

National Film Board of Canada

Open Knowledge Foundation

Sundance Film Institute

Pontificia Universidade do Rio Grande do Sul

TERC

TIS Innovation Park

Venice Gateway for Science and Technology

In addition to these external research partners, CMS/W also collaborates with other MIT departments and labs to conduct its interdisciplinary research. Partners at MIT include: